I've been thinking today about sleeping with kids. I can't come up with anything in my life that I could relate to Jackson or indeed any real life situation where I would be doing any such thing but I did come up with this scenario:

I don't have kids of my own but I have brothers that do. I then took the highly unlikely scenario that I was looking after the house for the brother to let him and his wife had a weekend away. Together with the house, I'm looking after my 7 yr old niece.

There is a severe thunder storm and she rushes into my bedroom saying "Uncle Jonny, I'm scared, can I sleep in your bed?" (after all in my scenario, that is how her parents confront such issues when they are tired and it's late at night).

Maybe 10 years ago, I would have just said "yes". Now, I'd probably say "OK, you can sleep in my bed, let me just go and find a sleeping bag for me so I can sleep on the floor".

I've not changed, but society (or perhaps more accurately my awareness of attitudes within society) has changed. I guess If I'd taken that imaginary step 10 yrs ago, I'd now be a child pervert, perhaps worse still, the way things are, the child could remember sleeping in a bed with an adult and think that must mean perversion, not because of anything that happened but because of public reaction... It's scarey...

Please don't get me wrong, I'm not saying child abuse is fanatsy - it is a sick and horrible reality and for my part, if I ever stumbled on a site promoting it, I'd ensure authorities were aware of it...

I've also never slept with a child. The closest I have come to children in my bedroom have been times where the niece I was thinking of above together with her younger brother have decided I should be woken up in the morning... Believe me being woken up by your room invaded and then being used as a trampoline is a "grit your teeth job", not a pleasure, particularly after a late night.

Jon